1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to food preparation systems and methods and, more particularly, to systems and methods for quickly and conveniently preparing filled or stuffed food items such as pies, pastries, desserts, pocket sandwiches, stuffed pizzas, calzones, and the like by an unskilled culinary user.
2. Background Art
Largely due to their ease and convenience, filled food items have always enjoyed great popularity. Filled food items may include a wide range of food products including but not limited to pies, tarts, Danishes, and other desserts as well as pocket sandwiches, stuffed pizzas, calzones, empanadas, and the like. These edible stuffed items may be made at home or commercially available typically in the form of a baked dough shell enclosing some food ingredients (i.e., the “filling(s)”). The filling(s) may be of various compositions, depending upon the desired product as noted above. For example, in the case of stuffed pizzas the filling(s) typically may comprise one or more of the following: tomato sauce, cheese, spices, vegetables (e.g., onions, green peppers, mushrooms, etc.), meats (e.g., pepperoni, ground beef, ham, bacon, etc.), and the like.
In order to make the filled food items, such as stuffed pizza or a stuffed sandwich, an uncooked hollow dough “shell” or “pocket” is formed to hold the desired filling(s). The particular filling(s) is(are) introduced into the pocket and the pocket is then sealed along a seam line or joint to hold the filling(s) inside. The uncooked stuffed pizza/sandwich pocket is then baked in an oven to cook it. If the hollow dough pocket is prepared and sealed properly the resulting stuffed pizza or sandwich should be relatively leak-proof, i.e., the filling will not leak out the seam(s), even if the filling is itself of a leaky consistency. The hollow pockets used to form stuffed pizzas and/or stuffed sandwiches have been of various shapes. One particularly, common shape is a small pie-like or tart-like shape. Another common shape is a rectangle, with somewhat rounded corners. The shell or pocket can be pre-made or made to order at the time that the pizza, sandwich, or other filled food item is made.
The formation of filled food items as described above has generally been a hit or miss proposition, depending upon the skill of the maker, the amount of preparation time devoted to the formation of the edible product, and the type of equipment utilized. Thus, some businesses have been quite successful in producing goods such as stuffed pizzas and/or stuffed sandwiches in quantity, and with repeatable high quality results. Other businesses have not achieved such repeatable, economical results.
Filled food items such as toasted sandwiches are also quite popular in this country today, especially in fast food restaurants. Such sandwiches are typically grilled between opposing faces or dies of a grill. A number of different grill constructions are available. These prior art devices however have some drawbacks. Such device may have a pair of dies hinged together for encompassing and holding the portions of a sandwich together during the heating process. Such sandwich grills may have one plate or die mounted on a base member with operating mechanism for pivoting one of the plates toward and away from the other plate. The device may include electrical heating elements in the sandwich dies or mold plates. While these are both satisfactory in many respects, these are not suitable for high speed production and are not necessarily cost-efficient for use at home outside a high-output commercial environment.
Other deficiencies of prior art devices include problems wherein excess sandwich material is placed between the dies. For example, it is common to use bread or a dough shell which exceeds the size of the dies themselves. In such case, the excess bread must be severed from that contained in the die and preferably permitted to fall within a scrap container or the like positioned below the die. Also, in the case of filling layers of relatively large volume it is frequently the case that some of the filling layer is pressed out at the edge of the filled food items as they are being pressed together. Thus, a filling layer that bulges out of the side of the stuffed sandwich or other filled food item may be problematic and the pressing-together process may provide a pie, pocket, or sandwich that opens again relatively easily.
Thus, there is a need for systems and methods of use to enable the rapid and easy formation of consistent, high quality, evenly cooked, leak-proof, filled food items. Accordingly, it is desirable that such systems and methods provide for quick and efficient removal of excess sandwich material, as well as provide simple and convenient creation of filled food items without requiring a large amount of time or culinary skill on the part of a user of the systems and methods.